Child support collections up, but there's still much room for improvement

Ryan Keith

Friday

Jul 31, 2009 at 12:01 AMJul 31, 2009 at 10:21 AM

In an era of bleak times for state government, news that child support collections are on the right track is a bright spot – even if it's not a completely feel-good tale.

In an era of bleak times for state government, news that child support collections are on the right track is a bright spot – even if it's not a completely feel-good tale.

The state's system for collecting and distributing child support payments to custodial parents imploded nearly a decade ago, when a new system caused major delays that forced reform.

Those improvements have sent collection numbers soaring with five years in a row of record collections, bringing it up to nearly $1.4 billion in the just-completed budget year.

Those in the system say it's come a long way.

"The culture has changed a lot over the last 10 years," said Richard Zuckerman, a Peoria attorney who has specialized in family law for 32 years.

But some parents are still falling through the cracks.

Dawn Vlaicevic of Rockdale in suburban Chicago says she was one of those for eight years, until she tracked down the information needed to make her child's father pay up. She created Child Support in Illinois, a support group and Web site that helps parents.

"We have a ways to go," Vlaicevic says of Illinois' efforts.

This fall marks the 10-year anniversary of the creation and near collapse of the State Disbursement Unit for distributing child support checks. For decades, counties distributed checks individually, but the SDU was formed after a federal order to centralize payments.

The SDU originally was housed in DuPage County in suburban Chicago but was bombarded from the beginning with an overwhelmed system and staff. Checks were delayed for weeks, millions of dollars were spent in repairs and lawmakers cried for reform.

Eventually, a new private company – ACS State and Local Solutions – with an improved computer system got the situation under control. Pam Lowry, who now runs the state's child support enforcement division and has worked there for more than a decade, said officials are committed to avoiding another meltdown.

Lowry, whose office falls under the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, credits several factors for the turnaround.

Regulations suspending driver's licenses and passports, freezing bank accounts and blocking the issuance of hunting and fishing permits have forced more parents to pay up.

The computerized system and automatic deduction from paychecks by many employers have made it smoother both for those paying support and those receiving it.

"The money comes out before they see it," Zuckerman, former president of the Illinois chapter of the American Academy of Matrimony Lawyers, says of non-custodial parents.

He says those developments have greatly helped ease some of the problems that plagued the state in the past, even though some remain.

"There's a lot of people receiving child support. There's always going to be things that happen," Zuckerman said.

Driver's license suspensions were possible for non-payers by court order in the past. But a 2007 law gave DHFS the power to directly order suspensions, carried out by the secretary of state's office.

Nearly 3,100 orders were issued in 2008, and halfway through 2009 that number had climbed to nearly 6,000, said secretary of state spokesman Henry Haupt. Parents have to set up payment to get those suspensions lifted.

Lowry said the state has collected nearly $50 million from driver and hunting licensing restrictions – money custodial parents likely would never have seen.

"It's about making the consequences meaningful," Lowry said.

Vlaicevic agrees that the department's collection efforts have been "fairly good." But more is needed in both manpower and effort, she says.

Her group, with more than 400 members, offers parents the insight and advice they need to get action on their complaints. That can be tricky, as parents sometimes wait on the phone with the state for a half-hour or more for answers and don't always get follow-through.

Laura Whelchel is a Rockford-area mother who sees both sides of the complex problem. She's trying to get her ex-husband who lives in another state to pay down a big backlog of overdue support for her two children, yet she and her new husband are fighting against paying too much for two kids from his previous marriage.

Whelchel, of Roscoe, says she's run into roadblocks at the state level because her ex-husband is out of work and sees little support for non-custodial parents who want to do the right thing. She thinks Illinois officials have made an effort but it's not enough, suggesting the federal government take more of a role.

"Something needs to be done really to balance out the system," Whelchel said. "I think the entire system needs an overhaul."

Tricia Smith-Jones, of Chicago suburb Downers Grove, has been fighting for years with her out-of-state husband to get child support for her two teenage kids but can't get clear answers from the state. She understands her situation is difficult but wonders if more could be done to help parents like her.

"I don't want to get obsessed with this. I want to focus more on the here and now with my children. It's enough for me to try to deal with the kids and the family," said Smith-Jones.

Lowry says her office, with nearly 880 employees, and another 82 working in the SDU,

works hard to ensure no one is neglected while serving more than 500,000 families. But she acknowledged there's room for growth, with the state now collecting only about 60 percent of the estimated payments due to parents each year.

They're focused now on getting parents signed up for child support earlier in the process and making assistance phone calls shorter and more direct. State budget cuts make it unlikely they'll get more resources soon, though.

"One of our goals is to make it harder for people not to pay their child support than to pay it," Lowry said. "We still have a long way to go."

Ryan Keith can be reached at (217) 788-1518 or ryan.keith@sj-r.com.

Child support collections by year

Illinois child support collections have increased steadily this decade after officials got past a near-meltdown of the centralized collection system. Here is a look at collection numbers for recent budget years, according to numbers provided by the state Department of Healthcare and Family Services. More information about the system can be found on the Department's Web site – http://www.ilchildsupport.com/.

Fiscal year 2001 - $772.8 million collected

Fiscal year 2002 - $840 million

Fiscal year 2003 - $889.2 million

Fiscal year 2004 - $990.4 million

Fiscal year 2005 - $1.08 billion

Fiscal year 2006 - $1.14 billion

Fiscal year 2007 - $1.22 billion

Fiscal year 2008 - $1.33 billion

Fiscal year 2009 - $1.38 billion

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